Activision has confirmed that it has reached a deal to settle the Jason West and Vince Zampella lawsuit. All parties have reached a settlement in the dispute, the terms of which are strictly confidential. The company issued an additional statement, saying that the one-time charge related to the settlement will not result in a material impact on the company’s GAAP or non-GAAP earnings per share outlook.

By using your special decoder ring it is easy to determine by that statement that Activision has written West and Zampella a large check to go away, and the company is anxious to put this entire mess behind them. Activision seemed to be ready to fight it out in court. However, as more negative press mounted regarding the company’s behavior, pressure had to be mounting to resolve the situation, as it painted the company in such a negative way.

In addition to the settlement with West and Zampella, the separate lawsuit launched against Activision by 40 former Infinity Ward developers over unpaid bonuses and royalties has also apparently been settled, as well. As with the West and Zampella settlement, we don’t have a clue what the numbers look like and it is likely we will never know.

The news for Jason West and Vince Zampella, formerly of Infinity Ward (now at the new studio Respawn Entertainment) was perhaps what they expected. The motion by Electronic Arts to dismiss the case was denied.

The judge decided today that there was enough evidence for the case to press on toward trial. It is expected that the actual trial will start in about May of this year, but legal experts following the case believe that there are at least several more rounds of legal maneuvering prior to the case actually going to trial.

Perhaps one bright spot was that Judge Elihu Berle dismissed one of the four claims in the suit: the claim that alleged EA met with West and Zampella and their agents while they were still employed with Activision, which was a breach of their Activision employment contracts. West and Zampella allege that Activision terminated them both to avoid paying $36 million in royalties owed to them for Modern Warfare 2. Activision redistributed at least part of those royalties to the remaining employees at Infinity Ward in an effort to keep them from jumping ship. Still, a number of employees left Infinity Ward to follow West and Zampella to Respawn.

As for Respawn itself, little is known about what they might be working on. While some rumors had indicated that we would know something by now, so far nothing has actually emerged from the new studio. The latest whispers suggest that the studio will announce what they are working on at E3 this year; but so far, West and Zampella have not confirmed this publicly.

In January, West and Zampella accused Activision of attempting to drag out the court proceedings in an effort to exceed the salary payments that the pair was getting from Respawn. Legal experts that we have spoken with tell us that even if West and Zampella are able to win their case against Activision, it will likely be years before they are able to collect even part of what they are owed. In the meantime, the legal costs for the pair continue to mount.